So once again I cannot figure out the whole camera thing. However , My
friend Erika from Michigan got a picture of us on Christmas and (even
though it is horrible of me) I thought I'd include it. I was in the
process of finishing a joke in this one, but it's so cute of her... it
would be the one I would pick to share too if she was me. This is all
horrible English. (note my awesome christmas light necklace. Also I
totally was wearing a hideous Christmas sweater the whole day)
So
much has happened this week and it has gone by so fast! So much happens
in one day, I could write my mass email on one day and I still would
never hit everything I would want to share.
I'll spend most my time talking about Christmas
though, because it was so exciting and fun. So here it is, Highlight of
Christmas:
As an extra special MTC christmas treat, we got to sleep in until 6:45
(this is not sarcasm, I loved that extra 45 minutes). After breakfast,
we went to a MTC Christmas Spectacular, which was a mix between a
variety show and a comedy show featuring singing, funny a Capella
Yiddish bottle dancing, funny poems, talented instrumental moments
played in unexpected ways, and even a little magic! The number I really
want to share with you was a zone act and they chngeds the words to
Silver Bells and it perfectly shows what we do with our days (in case
you were wondering).
MTC (tune of silver bells) <--------Well I'll write the first verse
MTC (mtc). Missionaries (Missionaries).
It's christmas time at the MTC
Stay up late (stay up late), Wake up early (Wake up early)
and now it is Christmas day!
First you study, then you study, then you study some more.
Then you take your tray to the table <----- In refference to meal time
Use the restroom, wash your hands
Then you walk back to class
Where you study and study some more
I don't know. I was dying from laughter. Because.. yep. that's what we do. so, marah
why do you love it? Becuase I love what we are studying about and get
to teach people how to use what we study to change their lives and help
them in times of needs. to know how much God loves them and why! There
is no way you can study that and not feel good and love it. If that is
not what you are feeling. You are doing it wrong. You know?
Oh. super random tangent. Back to Christmas.
After
that it was our "big Christmas meal" ....Nothing to write home about,
but it was decently good. But It was so fun because the people from the
Wext campus came up for the devotional and I got to see Haley Anderson
(A good friend from Michigan who moved to Dubai so I haven't seen her
for about three years) and Alek Jetsel (from my freshman ward)! And they
were singing in the choir with us!
The choir sang at the devotional (which was the
coolest part. If you aren't LDS you might not understand why this is so
cool, but change the name to one of your favorite superstars or person
from history. Elder David A. Bednar from the Quorum of the Twelve (one
of the twelve apostles from our church) came and talked to us! When he
walked in the room, when he spoke... it was crazy. You just knew he was a
man of God. But he, himself, was so humble and caring. I just wanted
him to keep talking forever. Usually, they just come with prepared talks
and they are amazing, but when he got up to speak he announced that we
would be doing something never done before. They passed out cell phone
at all the 16 MTCs in the world and gave us a number to text his Ipad,
when he went through and answered questions. I wish I had a recording of
everything He said so I could memorize it. but here where some of my
favorite moments.
When asked What is you favorite scripture and why?
He answered that he didn't really have favorite scripture, but more of
favorite themes. He took us to 3 Nephi 11: 14-17 (which I totally read
in my sacrament meeting talk on sunday), when Christ appears after his
Resurrection to the people in America and he invites ALL to feel the
nail marks in his hand and his feet one by one. with the number told in
the scriptures beforehand he told us it would take somewhere between 14
to 18 hours for this multitude to approach him one by one, but that is
how the Savior and God work. This concept of One by one, this is not the
only time it is mentiopned in the scriptures. It is a theme that shows
how god works with us. They do not teach to us as a crowd or work with
us as a crowd, but they work with us as individuals. With this being a
defining characteristic of how God works, it is not that long of a
stretch to assume that this was how he suffered in the Garden of
Gethsemene. That when he went past this finite world and suffered
infinite atonement, he saw each one of us and suffered for us one by
one.
I loved all he said and will hold his answers dear
to my heart, but I was surprised that it was not him who was the one to
answer my prayers. I've been struggling at trying to find that balance
between studying and preparing for the lessons we teach and letting the
spirit guide us in what to say that can help an individual in the
moment. It wasn't until later, the BYU Jazz teacher's band came to play
for us some jazzy christmas music show. He stopped in the middle and
said that he was impressed to tell us something that he has learned. He
said "In jazz, we improvize these modifed versions of the same medlody
on the spot, but it is not that we just don't prepare. Instead, we have
to prepare constantly, so that we can play anything that we feel is
right on the spot beautifully based off of the concepts that we learn.
This is a lot like missionary work, in that sense." and then it just hit
me. Yes, the spirit will guide us in our teachings, but we cannot rely
on that alone. We must prepare CONSTANTLY so that we can say anything
with truth. And whatever our weaknesses are, God will make up the rest.
Well, love you all! make sure to write! I leave Jan07! so I'll be here for another week! Miss you!
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